DrugWipe

The request was partially successful.

Dear South Yorkshire Police,

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This request relates DrugWipe roadside screening.

Please supply any policies, procedures and guidance on conducting DrugWipe roadside tests.

Please, can you confirm :

1) How many DrugWipe kits does the force have

2) How many officers are trained to carry out DrugWipe roadside tests.

3) Total number of roadside tests conducted in 2018

4) Total number roadside tests that gave a false positive (where someone tested positive at the scene but subsequent lab testing failed to support the original result) in 2018.

5) Total number roadside tests that gave a false positive for cocaine (where someone tested positive at the scene but subsequent lab testing failed to support the original result) in 2018.

6) The total number of times the force has recorded that your officers failed to follow procedures fully on the recording of information about or from a roadside DrugWipe test at the scene

Yours faithfully,

Charlotte Pearl

FOI, South Yorkshire Police

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FOI, South Yorkshire Police

7 Attachments

Dear Charlotte Pearl

 

Please find attached our response to your Freedom of Information request.

 

Regards

 

 

Jane Adamson
Information Compliance Clerk 

South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit

Unit 20, Sheffield 35a Business Park

Churchill Way

Sheffield

S35 2PY 

Website address - southyorks.police.uk

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Dear South Yorkshire Police,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of South Yorkshire Police's handling of my FOI request 'DrugWipe'.

You state, "‘This would require each officers record being examined to locate the drug wipe training dates. (15 minute check per officer x 2200 officers = 550 hours of work)". However, to answer my request you do not need to do this. There are other ways to work this out that are likely a lot simpler. It is extremely unlikely that a police force is operating without knowing how many of it officers are trained to carry out a certain task. It is understandable that those who have received training change role or leave the force and for this reason the requester only expected to receive an approximation and not an exact number.

To clarify, approximate values for any information not held centrally would be deemed acceptable by the requester.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...

Yours faithfully,

Charlotte Pearl

FOI, South Yorkshire Police

Dear Charlotte Pearl

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 20201011 and Internal Review reference: 20201066

Following your email of 22nd April 2020, I accept that the contents of the email constitute an appeal following an expression of dissatisfaction following the response that was sent to you on the 22nd April 2020. In my position as the Deputy Information Compliance Officer, I am independent of the original decision making process.

Original Request

Please supply any policies, procedures and guidance on conducting DrugWipe roadside tests.
1) How many DrugWipe kits does the force have
2) How many officers are trained to carry out DrugWipe roadside tests.
3) Total number of roadside tests conducted in 2018
4) Total number roadside tests that gave a false positive (where someone tested positive at the scene but subsequent lab testing failed to support the original result) in 2018.
5) Total number roadside tests that gave a false positive for cocaine (where someone tested positive at the scene but subsequent lab testing failed to support the original result) in 2018.
6) The total number of times the force has recorded that your officers failed to follow procedures fully on the recording of information about or from a roadside DrugWipe test at the scene

Original Response

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires South Yorkshire Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt), to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
a. states that fact,
b. specifies the exemption in question and
c. states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

The following exemption applies to the disclosure of the information:
Section 12 – Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit
I contacted our Roads Policing Group for assistance with your request. They have advised in respect to your Question number 2, to retrieve this information, this would exceed the time allowed by the FOI Act. They have stated:

‘This would require each officers record being examined to locate the drug wipe training dates. (15 minute check per officer x 2200 officers = 550 hours of work)’.

In essence, to retrieve this data, this would require every training record for every Officer in the force to be checked. This process would take much longer than 18 hours’ work allowed by the FOI Act. .
In addition, when we approached our individual Districts, we were advised that to retrieve false positive information, this would require a case by case review of all tests carried out within the Force area. This is also a lengthy process, and would also exceed the 18 hour rule.
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 provide that the cost limit for non-central government public authorities is £450. This must be calculated at the rate of £25 per hour, providing an effective time limit of 18 hours.
Guidance from the Information Commissioner to public authorities is that where one part of a request is reasonably estimated to exceed the appropriate limit then the authority is not obliged to consider or comply with the remainder of the request up to the point at which the appropriate limit has been reached. Please note point 30 of the below link:-
https://ico.org.uk/media/for-
organisations/documents/1199/costs_of_compliance_exceeds_appropriate_limit.pdf

Although excess cost removes the force's obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill, I have supplied information, relative to your request, retrieved or available before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded. I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of your request neither does it bind South Yorkshire Police to any commitment that it will release information in such a manner in the future .

The Road Policing Group retrieved the following data prior to the realisation that this would exceed the 18 hour rule.
1) How many DrugWipe kits does the force have
At Operational Support Units we have approximately 500 drug wipes in stock, however each district also hold their own supply of drug wipes .

I have also attached our policy guidance document regarding Drug Wipes, which you may find useful for your research.
If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been handled, you can request a review by following the advice contained in the separate notice enclosed with this correspondence:

Review of the Original Decision

I have reviewed your original request and the response provided. I can see that the Decision Marker received information that stated that it would take 550 hours to look through all Police Officers records to find out how many have been trained and with this information the request ceased under Section 12 - Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit of the FOI Act.

I have approached our Training Department and asked if they keep a record, at the time your request was received the information wasn’t available as it hadn’t been updated, upon my request they have sourced the data and amended their records so I can now confirm that South Yorkshire Police have 615 officers who are trained to carry out roadside DrugWipe Tests.

After taking all the above into consideration, your internal review is partially upheld.

If you require any further information please forward a new request and I will ensure this is logged onto our system and actioned.

If you are still dissatisfied with how your request has been handled, you can raise this with the Information Commissioner. Contact details below: -

Information Commissioner’s Office
Water Lane
Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Website: www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely
Amanda Winder
Deputy Information Compliance Officer

South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35 2PY

Email – [email address]

Please note that police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide information and statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. It should be noted that for these reasons this forces response to your questions should not be used for the comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.

South Yorkshire Police provides you the right to request a re-examination of your case under its review procedure (copy enclosed). If you decide to request such a review and having followed the Constabulary’s full process you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your comments to the Information Commissioner who will give it consideration.

The South Yorkshire Police in complying with their statutory duty under sections 1 and 11 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to release the enclosed information will not breach the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. However, the rights of the copyright owner of the enclosed information will continue to be protected by law. Applications for the copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of the attached information should be addressed to The Force Solicitor, South Yorkshire Police, Police Headquarters, Carbook House, 5 Carbrook Hall Road, , Sheffield, S9 2EH.

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